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| Season | Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon (Season 20) · Welcome to Alola arc (SM001–SM004) |
| Episode | Season 20, episode 1 · English episode 936 · Japanese episode 941 · Bulbapedia code SM001 |
| English title | Alola to New Adventure! |
| Japanese title | アローラ！はじめての島、はじめてのポケモンたち！！ Arōra! Hajimete no Shima, Hajimete no Pokemon-tachi!! — “Alola! The First Island, the First Pokémon!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 17 November 2016 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 12 May 2017 · Disney XD |
| Screenplay | Aya Matsui |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Alola!! – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) with Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) · Pōzu (Pose) – Taiiku Okazaki |
| English opening | Under the Alolan Sun – Jannel Candrice and The Sad Truth (featuring Ben Dixon and the Vestigial Horns) |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Grubbin (US) |
| Next episode | The Guardian’s Challenge! (SM002) |
Plot episodeAsh arrives in AlolaZ-Ring from Tapu Koko
Alola to New Adventure! is the 1st episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, the twentieth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 936th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 941, Bulbapedia code SM001). It first aired in Japan on 17 November 2016 and in the United States on 12 May 2017. It falls within the season’s Welcome to Alola stretch (EP1–EP4).
First shown on Disney XD on Monday 5 December 2016 as a sneak peek with the network’s premiere of Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel, in a preview version with a placeholder opening and ending and the original Japanese music. The finished version premiered at 9:00 p.m. on Friday 12 May 2017, opening the season’s premiere week; it had already replaced the preview on the Disney XD app and website on 11 February 2017.
Synopsis
Ash travels to the tropical Alola region on holiday, meets the students of the Pokémon School and receives a Z-Ring from the island guardian Tapu Koko, which persuades him to stay and study there. Mimey has won the trip in a lottery, and Professor Oak has asked Ash to deliver a Pokémon Egg to his cousin on Melemele Island. Ash and Pikachu start by riding a Sharpedo under the waves, surface face to face with a Bruxish, and are fished out of the sea by a laughing girl, Lana, and her Popplio. On the beach Ash steps on a sunbathing Litten and gets an Ember for his trouble. A Pokémon Taxi driver explains Alola’s Ride Pokémon, and when Ash chases a Grubbin into a tunnel, a wild Bewear comes crashing through the trees after him. Tapu Koko, watching from the branches, drops a Sitrus Berry and draws the Bewear away. Following a Charizard overhead, Ash finds the Pokémon School, where a herd of Tauros ridden by Mallow, Lana and Sophocles tramples him.
Mallow calls off her Tauros, and Ash meets Lillie, a polite girl who will not touch Pokémon, and Sophocles with his Togedemaru. Principal Samson Oak, a lover of Pokémon puns, first mistakes Ash for a new student and then gratefully takes the Egg, while Mallow gives Ash a tour and introduces Professor Kukui. Outside, three Team Skull grunts, Tupp, Zipp and Rapp, pick a fight with Kiawe and his Charizard, and Ash jumps in beside him. Kiawe sends out Turtonator against the grunts’ Salandit, Yungoos and Zubat. Venoshock, Bite and Leech Life come flying, but Turtonator’s Shell Trap punishes the biters and Pikachu’s Thunderbolt strikes all three. Then Kiawe holds up the crystal on his wristband, strikes a series of poses, and Turtonator unleashes the blazing Inferno Overdrive, sending Team Skull running. Kukui explains that this was a Z-Move, powered by a Z-Ring and a Z-Crystal, and tells Ash about the island challenge, a series of trials held across Alola’s islands.
That night Ash spots Tapu Koko again near a restaurant and follows it to a lookout above the sea. The guardian of Melemele Island approaches him and leaves him a Z-Ring set with an Electrium Z before flying away into the dark. Ash puts it on in wonder, and the encounter settles his decision: with his mother’s blessing he will stay in Alola to attend the Pokémon School, living with Professor Kukui, while Delia and Mimey go home to Pallet Town. He leaves his other Pokémon at Professor Oak’s laboratory and starts his new life in a new set of clothes, with only Pikachu at his side. The next morning, after a video call with his mother from Kukui’s beach house, Ash races Pikachu to his first day of school, eager to learn everything Alola has to teach him.
Major Events
- Welcome to Alola. Ash, Delia and Mimey holiday in Alola
- Professor Oak’s Egg is delivered to Samson Oak
- Ash meets his future classmates and Professor Kukui
- Kiawe’s Inferno Overdrive against Team Skull is the first Z-Move of the series
- Tapu Koko gives Ash a Z-Ring set with an Electrium Z
- Ash enrols at the Pokémon School and leaves his other Pokémon at Professor Oak’s laboratory
- A new outfit and a new art style
- Team Rocket do not appear, the first region premiere without them since EP002
- Kayzie Rogers’s last episode (as Mimey)
- Debuts of Lana, Kiawe, Lillie, Sophocles, Mallow, Professor Kukui, Samson Oak and Team Skull’s Tupp, Zipp and Rapp
Pokémon making their anime debut
Popplio#0728 · SM001
Bounsweet#0761 · SM001
Togedemaru#0777 · SM001
Turtonator#0776 · SM001
Litten#0725 · SM001
Bewear#0760 · SM001
Tapu Koko#0785 · SM001
Salandit#0757 · SM001
Yungoos#0734 · SM001
Pyukumuku#0771 · SM001
Bruxish#0779 · SM001
Grubbin#0736 · SM001
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Alola storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Disney XD sneak-peek version (5 December 2016) had a placeholder opening and ending and much of the original music; for the official debut the music was largely replaced and all of Pikachu’s lines were re-recorded
- The Japanese caption naming Inferno Overdrive is removed
- Debut of the English opening Under the Alolan Sun (Jannel Candrice and The Sad Truth), the Japanese opening Alola!! and the ending Pose
- The first use of music from Hoopa and the Clash of Ages
Part of our Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.